


Approval

by songofthe52hertzwhale



Category: Dalton Academy Series
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-29 03:15:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14463801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/songofthe52hertzwhale/pseuds/songofthe52hertzwhale
Summary: Dolce Larson has very strict qualifications for who's good enough to date her son.Unfortunately, Logan Wright doesn't meet any of those qualifications.





	Approval

Dolce Larson’s always been a hard woman to get a read on. Logan’s never really been able to tell what she thinks of him, has never really _cared_ , if he’s being perfectly honest.

But now, standing in her living room, Julian’s hand clasped in his, he cares a _lot_.

She’s staring at him, eyes scanning over the length of his body, like she’s assessing every flaw. She finally turns to Julian, looks a little exasperated.

“We _talked_ about this, Julian. At least one award…”

“…that’s not shaped like a surfboard, yes mom, I know.”

Julian sighs, tightens his grip on Logan’s hand.

“I love him, mom,” he says, and Logan looks down at him, a soft smile on his face.

Dolce’s eyes narrow a little, “Yes, well. We’ll see.”

They watch her go, Julian mildly annoyed, Logan confused.

“…is your mom going to...kill me?”

.

 

 _I miss you,_ Julian reads off his phone, _dealing with my dad is way harder when you aren’t around._

Julian smiles, lifts his thumbs to respond.

“Julian!” He hears, from across the room.

Dolce’s making her way over, a vaugley familiar-looking man following in her wake.

“Julian, darling, you know Kenneth, don’t you?”

“Don’t think so,” Julian’s brow furrows, and he glances over at the other, equally-confused man.

“He just won an Academy Award, don’t you remember? He was _amazing,_ just so talented.”

She gives him a pointed smile, pushes Kenneth a little closer.

“I’ll just let you two talk.”

Both men watch her go.

“…I can’t really tell if she’s trying to set me up with _you_ or trying to make me your new stepdad,” Kenneth says, after a pause, “Either way, though, I’m already seeing someone.”

“Yeah,” Julian sighs, “You and me both.”

.

 

Julian’s always liked France. The food, the climate, the people — he’d jumped at the invite to Cannes, despite not being involved in any of the nominated films. Something he’ll have to change next year, he thinks, idly.

He runs into his father, eventually, stops to chat with him about his latest project. He sees Travis’s eyes look past Julian’s head, sees him hide a grin.

“She’s doing it again, isn’t she?” Julian rolls his eyes, “Who now?”

“She went all out this time,” Travis says, “French director. Youngest winner of the Palme d’Or. She’s pretty, too.”

“Dad,” Julian groans, “ _Please_ make her stop.”

Travis just laughs, sips at his drink, “Trust me, son, nobody can _make_ your mother do anything.”

He steps away, leaves Julian to fend for himself as Dolce pulls a tall, dark-haired woman his way.

“Julian, this is Brigitte,” Dolce says, smiling at him, “She’s _astounding_ , really, a creative genius. I think you two will really hit it off.”

Brigitte smiles at him, a little awkwardly, and waits for Dolce to walk off.

“I think she was trying to get me to flirt with you,” she says, voice slightly accented, “Not to be rude, but I prefer my men older.”

Julian feels his face flush, “Please ignore her. She’s…I’m sorry. Congratulations, by the way.”

He moves past her, but she stops him with a hand on his arm.

“Since she expects us to talk anyway,” she says, “I actually wanted to speak with you about a part in my next movie, if you’re interested.”

Julian glances over, sees Dolce pretending not to watch.

“…yeah, why not?”

 

.

 

“Julian!”

“Oh god, not again,” Julian shuts his eyes, and Logan grimaces beside him.

“Is this just a _me_ thing?” He asks, “I’m starting to feel personally attacked.”

“It’s about my _image._ She doesn’t think you’ll do anything to make me look better or make me more famous, or whatever. I thought she’d get over it eventually.”

“Should I go…?”

Julian looks over at his mom, sees her waving him over with her nails latched around the arm of a young, attractive man.

“Go get me another drink,” he says, “I’ll be five minutes.”

Logan heads to the bar, and Julian moves towards his mother.

“This is Anthony,” Dolce tells him, as if he didn’t immediately recognize the man chosen to be Marvel’s new superstar, “He’s _hilarious_ , you should hear the story he was just telling me…”

“I’m supposed to casually mention that I won two Golden Globes,” Anthony interrupts her, looking a little bit amused, “Then I’m supposed to bring up the fact that I do all my own stunts, so we have something to bond over. After that, I’m supposed to figure out a way to slip in the fact that I’m Hollywood’s first openly gay action star, and how big of an impact that has. I think after that, I’m supposed to tell you I think you’re insanely attractive and that I have a hotel room two blocks over.”

Julian’s grinning, looks over at his mother, who actually looks flustered.

“He’s really good at remembering his lines, too. Way to pick ‘em, mom.”

Dolce just snatches Anthony’s glass, downs the rest of his drink as she flounces away.

“Sorry about her,” Julian says, “She’s just doing this _thing_ …”

Anthony laughs, waves it off, “I get it. For the record though, I do think you’re insanely attractive, and if blondie over there wasn’t trying to murder me with his eyes, I’d totally invite you to my hotel room.”

He winks and saunters off, leaving Julian laughing behind him.

.

 

“Clark, hey,” Julian holds his phone to his ear, grins at the familiar voice, “Thought you were in Australia, or something?”

“Dubai, now,” Clark says, sounding a little tired, “Look, I just wanted to give you a heads up…your mom called me the other day.”

“…oh god.”

“Yeah. She uh…she told me that you and I would make a great couple, that the whole music-and-film combination would be great publicity for both of us. It was kind of weird, actually? I think she came just short of _bribing_ me to ask you out.”

“Shit,” Julian groans, buries his face in his hands, “Clark I…I’m so sorry.”

“I just thought you’d probably want to know.”

“Yeah. I’ll talk to her, thanks.”

He hangs up, storms downstairs. Dolce’s sitting at the breakfast bar, flipping through a magazine as she sips at a mug of herbal tea.

“Oh, Julian,” she says brightly, folding a page over and holding it out to him, “Did you know your friend Cameron just got a role in the new Spielberg movie? And that Isabel girl, she’s nominated for another Emmy, and—“

“Mom, stop it.”

Dolce shuts her mouth, blinks at him.

“I’m dating _Logan_ ,” he says, firmly, “I _love_ Logan. And somehow, miraculously, he loves me too. I’m _happy_. I know he’s not what you would have picked, but this is my choice, okay? I choose _Logan_.”

Dolce sighs, shuts the magazine and turns to face him.

“Relationships in our world are _hard_ , Julian. Maybe it’s easy for you now, when you’re both young. But it’ll only get harder. He’s not from our world, Julian. All the paparazzi and the publicity and the wild accusations are going to get to him eventually. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

She stands, presses a kiss to his forehead.

“And I don’t want you to invest all your energy in this boy for nothing. You’re at the perfect point in your life to really build your career, _that’s_ what you should be focusing on. He doesn’t help with that.”

Before Julian can think up a response, she’s sliding past him, heels clacking on the marble tile.

 

.

 

“…and the Grammy for Song of the Year goes to…”

Julian holds his breath. Logan’s hand slides to his knee, squeezing reassuringly.

“Julian Larson-Armstrong and John Logan Wright, _Play Something!_ ”

Julian’s pretty sure the whole world falls away, in that moment. He can feel Logan’s hands on him, pulling him to his feet and shaking him to alertness.

“Holy shit Jules,” he gasps, eyes wide, “That’s _us_.”

He leans in, presses his lips to Julian’s. The applause around them just gets louder, and Julian hears a chorus of _whooping_ from a few rows back, recognizes Haven’s voices in the noise.

Somehow, they make it up to the stage. The award gets thrust into Julian’s hands, and he passes it to Logan almost immediately, loves the way Logan’s eyes light up when he looks down at it.

They’d prepared a speech, but Julian forgets most of it. He stutters out a few thank you’s, lets Logan get out a line thanking Michelle and Derek.

“…and Julian, of course,” he tacks on, eyes drifting over to the boy at his side, “He didn’t want to be on the album at all, actually. He told me to find a _real_ musician. But I told him there was no way this song would work with anyone else. It had to be him.”

He smiles, softly, “It’s always been him.”

There’s another rise of applause and screaming, but Julian barely notices. They walk off stage together, hand-in-hand.

 

.

 

The post-Grammy-win celebration seems to last for weeks. Logan seems to get a new wave of excitement every time he sees the trophy sitting on their table, and Julian definitely catches him dusting it off more than once.

There’s a flood of congratulatory messages from everyone they’ve ever met. Even _John_ calls, tells Logan he really liked the song.

 _He turns it up every time it comes on the radio_ , Michelle texts later, and Logan beams.

Julian loves how happy all this is making Logan, how people are finally appreciating him for his talent.

He’s also smug for a totally different, slightly selfish reason.

“It’s really not that big of a deal,” Logan says, watching as Julian tidies up their kitchen, “I don’t care if she doesn’t like me. I just need _you_ to like me.”

“ _I_ want her to like you,” Julian insists, grabbing a tin of tea from the cupboard, “I don’t want her to keep making all these snide comments about how she doesn’t think you’re _good enough_ for the rest of our lives, okay? It’s important to me.”

The doorbell rings, and Julian rushes to the door, ushering his mother inside.

Their Grammy is sitting in the middle of the table, and Dolce raises an eyebrow at it as she walks in.

“Good to see you’re actually taking care of those now. I’m pretty sure there’s still an MTV award in my pool.”

“Well it is Logan’s first,” Julian says, looking proud, “I figured it deserved to be shown off.”

Dolce hums a little, glances over at Logan, standing awkwardly in the corner.

“You do have green tea, don’t you?” She asks, setting her purse down.

Julian nods and heads into the kitchen, pulls a mug out of the cupboard and starts on the tea.

“He wants this award to make me like you,” Dolce says, and Logan looks up, “He thinks you winning a Grammy will make me approve of you two.”

“But it won’t, will it?” Logan asks, “Me winning an award isn’t going to make you like me.”

“No,” Dolce says shortly, and Logan lowers his eyes.

The room is quiet for a moment, the only sounds the distant echoing of Julian dropping spoons in the kitchen.

“…your speech did, though.”

“…excuse me?”

“The speech,” Dolce clarifies, “The way you looked at him. That’s what made me like you.”

Logan gapes at her, for a moment. She looks totally unperturbed, is examining her manicure.

“I care about his career, of course. But I suppose I care about his happiness more. You seem to make him happy.”

“He does.”

Logan and Dolce both turn. Julian’s standing in the doorway, Dolce’s tea held in his hands.

“He does make me happy, mom. Really happy.”

“Well then. I suppose I could try to stop interfering.”

Julian smiles, sinks into the seat beside her and slides the mug over.

“But if you think _one_ _award_ is sufficient, you’re wrong. I expect Album of the Year in the next decade, Logan.”


End file.
